Tamás Tarján: L. and L. on the 130th
They opened the door of the Studio of the Bárka Theatre at 7:08. The director’s friendly instructions started at 7:12 and the mostly workshop-like performance at 7:16. They held one interval. Leonce and Lena finished at 10:04, until 10:11 the long lasting applause called the actors to bow. This data (9th of May, the 130th day of the year, the premiere) is punctual, but they are here just to inform.
They are informative, as in case of any other evenings Leonce and Lena can be much shorter or longer, they can hold two or three intervals, or the short, three acts long comedy can go on without any intervals until midnight (translated by Gábor Thurzó and György Rónay). According to the director’s original and shared idea the eight members of Maladype Theatre have made different varriation for each scenes during the rehearsals, and “in front of the viewers, they “fight with each other” in public for the rights of playing of the variations of scenes which they have formed together with the help of a game which needs special concentration”. However, on the premiere Zoltán Balázs, the director, pushed this possibility into the future, and based on the reactions of the viewers of the dress rehearsal a day before, he encourages them: that after the ending of each scenes if they would like to, then choose from the variations, they could watch the situations again with different actor or actors.
The modification of the orignal plan is not a shame, but the conditions are missing for the real choice. As we can hear it – we cannot even know the working title of most of the accumulated, hundred versions. Büchner’s play has been shown in its continuity. As it has been declared, Maladype is a troupe, which believes in the power of community, so the interest towards the so called star actors cannot come into consideration in case of the motivation of our choice. It is also almost impossible that the public would “order” a scene in agreement. Hardly happened anything else than the statement of hesitant individual tries. Zoltán Balázs made them concrete, other times – many times – he offered (so he chose immediately) any elements of the possibilities. The politeness does not let vote neither against the viewers’ wishes, nor against the director’s decision, and of course we cannot know what we vote against. (Because of this method came some stressed fake-dialogues and some limping arguments, in which the writer of these lined had to take part in as someone, who they asked, however he did not want to.) This new type but still unfinished conception (Balázs has not directed his own role as the “caller” and “presenter”) has turned against itself. (After 9pm the viewers did not activate themselves and the director let the performance ran “with one variation-type”.) From those we have seen we would not like to have missed the “Peeing” one, the meeting scene with its choreography-like humour, musical joy and punctuality which can see the soul too. Meanwhile the version of the “Monologue” by Éva Bakos (without any words, beautiful and effective) will remain one to be choose, as another one is needed before it with the text to make it understand.
The meeting, the monologue (and the others) have content to talk about, however it does not come from Büchner’s play mostly, but its aim is to show us the partly moving theatre-like nature of ordinary tragic poetical expressions, of acceptance, of love, of decision, and of the fight for life. There is a statement by the performers can be appreciated (however it is a false one), that Leaonce and Lena “has been put on stage so many times, that (in its whole) there is no use to do it again”, but if it is true than it is not lucky to quote and explain what we cannot see. (Namely: from the Popó-named little country – which a dog can run through – the heir to the throne, referring to the free will, escapes away from the reign and compulsory marriage than by chance, now according to his free will he finds the same woman, the princess of the Empire of Pipi, and he can hardly leave the compulsory reign of the country.)
What can we see? According to its contingency, its fragment-like wholeness, it cannot be seen through and its standard is digressive, but as a whole it is attractive and regulated (we can think that it has an “ideal” version of it inside) team work. The set is a park with a white square and bamboo sticks, which are pushed crooked into it, the actors perform barefoot in black rehearsal dresses (Judit Gombár’s nice and well-defined world of set and costumes) raise Eastern-like feelings (meanwhile it does not tell anything exactly with it). The shorter and especially the longer sticks, which can be pulled out, can turn into anything (trombone, lance, binoculars, loudspeaker, pencil, penis and so on.). The performers are continuously fighting with the tools, with each other and with themselves too. It is a fight of love, a fight for life, which questions the “whys”, this fight between bodies sweats the heroes and their partners too. The physiological and animated moods come from the names of the countries too, and the sexuality can come from the main characters’ love story (and previous lives too). We can hear the text on unknown languages, with strong accents, in a singing version, and with the help of meta-communication, without any linguistic signs (and any other ways too).
In the hot air cabin of the Studio of Bárka Theatre eight equal actors – Ákos Orosz, Zoltán Papp, Zsolt Páll, Ádám Tompa, Éva Bakos, Hermina Fátyol, Kamilla Fátyol, Katalin Simpó – and the percussion instruments player, Kornél Mogyoró, who is on the stage together with them, do their works in military order. (Unfortunatelly these actors without any tasks often get out of the play: they are watching as they are on a theatrical course.) It can be thought and felt what did they put individually into the director’s formal order which picks up and uses sometimes generously the personal ideas. Their clear and understandable telling of the text cannot enthuse me even with its key sentences, as these questions and sentences go towards the banality many times (there are too many shouts, cries, which are over exaggerated and illustrated acts of artistry). The symbolic tricks with the holding, grabbing, hugging, rising, balancing of the bamboos are more original, full of secrets. Many black sculptures of bodies praise together the director and actors too, which are formed by the melting, fighting, circling of one or more human bodies.
When the really urged “wishes by viewers” could not make fragmental this unordinary “introducing theatrical” experiment, the order which is dictated and composed by Zoltán Balázs became much more appealing (with the scene of “Giants” and the charm of the ungraceful extra ending). From the other point of view it is true: that the real interesting thing would be if we had the chance to watch the whole periodical system of the situations of scenes, and part of it, we can “read one by one” the variations, we can get into the connections as insiders.
I put the point at the end of my writing 144 minutes after the ending of the premiere. The article is there just to inform. I do not hope, that a “tiny empire” can get from the everyday work, and let many of us (as in case of the Greeks in the past) into the séance, called Leonce and Lena, about which the premier can hardly inform me, but I would try to get information about the formation of the performance in the future too.
Tamás Tarján, kultúra.hu, 2008
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)
They are informative, as in case of any other evenings Leonce and Lena can be much shorter or longer, they can hold two or three intervals, or the short, three acts long comedy can go on without any intervals until midnight (translated by Gábor Thurzó and György Rónay). According to the director’s original and shared idea the eight members of Maladype Theatre have made different varriation for each scenes during the rehearsals, and “in front of the viewers, they “fight with each other” in public for the rights of playing of the variations of scenes which they have formed together with the help of a game which needs special concentration”. However, on the premiere Zoltán Balázs, the director, pushed this possibility into the future, and based on the reactions of the viewers of the dress rehearsal a day before, he encourages them: that after the ending of each scenes if they would like to, then choose from the variations, they could watch the situations again with different actor or actors.
The modification of the orignal plan is not a shame, but the conditions are missing for the real choice. As we can hear it – we cannot even know the working title of most of the accumulated, hundred versions. Büchner’s play has been shown in its continuity. As it has been declared, Maladype is a troupe, which believes in the power of community, so the interest towards the so called star actors cannot come into consideration in case of the motivation of our choice. It is also almost impossible that the public would “order” a scene in agreement. Hardly happened anything else than the statement of hesitant individual tries. Zoltán Balázs made them concrete, other times – many times – he offered (so he chose immediately) any elements of the possibilities. The politeness does not let vote neither against the viewers’ wishes, nor against the director’s decision, and of course we cannot know what we vote against. (Because of this method came some stressed fake-dialogues and some limping arguments, in which the writer of these lined had to take part in as someone, who they asked, however he did not want to.) This new type but still unfinished conception (Balázs has not directed his own role as the “caller” and “presenter”) has turned against itself. (After 9pm the viewers did not activate themselves and the director let the performance ran “with one variation-type”.) From those we have seen we would not like to have missed the “Peeing” one, the meeting scene with its choreography-like humour, musical joy and punctuality which can see the soul too. Meanwhile the version of the “Monologue” by Éva Bakos (without any words, beautiful and effective) will remain one to be choose, as another one is needed before it with the text to make it understand.
The meeting, the monologue (and the others) have content to talk about, however it does not come from Büchner’s play mostly, but its aim is to show us the partly moving theatre-like nature of ordinary tragic poetical expressions, of acceptance, of love, of decision, and of the fight for life. There is a statement by the performers can be appreciated (however it is a false one), that Leaonce and Lena “has been put on stage so many times, that (in its whole) there is no use to do it again”, but if it is true than it is not lucky to quote and explain what we cannot see. (Namely: from the Popó-named little country – which a dog can run through – the heir to the throne, referring to the free will, escapes away from the reign and compulsory marriage than by chance, now according to his free will he finds the same woman, the princess of the Empire of Pipi, and he can hardly leave the compulsory reign of the country.)
What can we see? According to its contingency, its fragment-like wholeness, it cannot be seen through and its standard is digressive, but as a whole it is attractive and regulated (we can think that it has an “ideal” version of it inside) team work. The set is a park with a white square and bamboo sticks, which are pushed crooked into it, the actors perform barefoot in black rehearsal dresses (Judit Gombár’s nice and well-defined world of set and costumes) raise Eastern-like feelings (meanwhile it does not tell anything exactly with it). The shorter and especially the longer sticks, which can be pulled out, can turn into anything (trombone, lance, binoculars, loudspeaker, pencil, penis and so on.). The performers are continuously fighting with the tools, with each other and with themselves too. It is a fight of love, a fight for life, which questions the “whys”, this fight between bodies sweats the heroes and their partners too. The physiological and animated moods come from the names of the countries too, and the sexuality can come from the main characters’ love story (and previous lives too). We can hear the text on unknown languages, with strong accents, in a singing version, and with the help of meta-communication, without any linguistic signs (and any other ways too).
In the hot air cabin of the Studio of Bárka Theatre eight equal actors – Ákos Orosz, Zoltán Papp, Zsolt Páll, Ádám Tompa, Éva Bakos, Hermina Fátyol, Kamilla Fátyol, Katalin Simpó – and the percussion instruments player, Kornél Mogyoró, who is on the stage together with them, do their works in military order. (Unfortunatelly these actors without any tasks often get out of the play: they are watching as they are on a theatrical course.) It can be thought and felt what did they put individually into the director’s formal order which picks up and uses sometimes generously the personal ideas. Their clear and understandable telling of the text cannot enthuse me even with its key sentences, as these questions and sentences go towards the banality many times (there are too many shouts, cries, which are over exaggerated and illustrated acts of artistry). The symbolic tricks with the holding, grabbing, hugging, rising, balancing of the bamboos are more original, full of secrets. Many black sculptures of bodies praise together the director and actors too, which are formed by the melting, fighting, circling of one or more human bodies.
When the really urged “wishes by viewers” could not make fragmental this unordinary “introducing theatrical” experiment, the order which is dictated and composed by Zoltán Balázs became much more appealing (with the scene of “Giants” and the charm of the ungraceful extra ending). From the other point of view it is true: that the real interesting thing would be if we had the chance to watch the whole periodical system of the situations of scenes, and part of it, we can “read one by one” the variations, we can get into the connections as insiders.
I put the point at the end of my writing 144 minutes after the ending of the premiere. The article is there just to inform. I do not hope, that a “tiny empire” can get from the everyday work, and let many of us (as in case of the Greeks in the past) into the séance, called Leonce and Lena, about which the premier can hardly inform me, but I would try to get information about the formation of the performance in the future too.
Tamás Tarján, kultúra.hu, 2008
(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)